It is difficult to disagree, given Shakespeare’s beloved birthplace, the most perfect of medieval castles, romantic ruins and Georgian spa towns – at Stratford, Warwick, Kenilworth and Leamington respectively. Throw in endless charming villages of black and white, timber-framed houses alongside delightful thatches and the beautiful honey-coloured cottages of the Warwickshire Cotswolds, and the “Perfect England” template is repeated over and over.

However, lurking not far beneath the surface is a host of oddities and peculiarities that portray the county in a more intriguing light. Therefore even the Conventional Warwickshire section is interspersed with the book’s idiosyncratic “Quirk Alerts”; like anecdotes about why Charles II became The Battered Yokel, or how a surviving tumbrel in Warwick St Mary’s church was once used to duck “notorious scolds” into the town pool! Alternatively, there are historical Quirk Alerts on Britain’s Area 51, Shakespeare’s Curse, Justice Shallow, the Kenilworth Pig, the Wicked Lady Dorothy, the Teeth of the Black Hound, and the source of the saying “Sent to Coventry”.

Naturally, though, it is the Quirky Warwickshire section where things turn even stranger, and where a seemingly random almanac of 99 Warwickshire places have their quirkiest facts laid bare: like which Warwickshire church was once known as the tallest pigsty in Europe, or which village has stocks with five holes – specially made for a one-legged ex-soldier and his two drinking companions!

Or discover which village is home to the Teletubbies, which had two medieval castles, and which had a parish clerk who used important 17 century parish records to light his pipe! Elsewhere, spectres abound, including a stable boy who leaves a foul smell behind, a phantom funeral cortege, a mad ghostly cyclist, and all manner of ghouls in the hills around Ilmington, including that of the squire who was eaten by his own beloved hounds!

Alternatively, find out about the Roman Bird Bath, the Countess in a Basket and the Tumult in the Sky. Or what about King Kong’s connections with the Birmingham Bullring, which Warwickshire church has a fireplace amongst its pews, or which porridge pot holds 120 gallons!

If you think you know Warwickshire, read this fascinating and profusely illustrated book and think again…